Business briefs

Friday

Feb 21, 2014 at 7:48 PM

Black Hawk job cutsSTRATFORD, Conn. — The company that makes Black Hawk helicopters said Friday it is cutting 600 jobs, most of them in Connecticut, as it struggles with defense spending cuts and a reduction in the demand for the workhorse military aircraft.The cuts at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., will take place over the next several weeks, spokesman Paul Jackson said.Sales had fallen about 20 percent year over year, Chief Financial Officer Greg Hayes said last month. Revenue in 2013 was $6.25 billion, down 8 percent from 2012 and by 15 percent from 2011. Profit last year was $594 million, down 17 percent from 2012 and 29 percent lower than in 2011.The company has about 8,200 employees in Connecticut and 16,500 around the world.Barnes & Noble stakeNEW YORK — Investment firm G Asset has offered to buy 51 percent of the Barnes & Noble bookstore chain for about $672 million.The New York firm says its offer is for $22 per share, 31 percent above the stock's closing price on Thursday. G Asset offered $20 per share last November. Barnes & Noble has about 60 million shares outstanding.If the bid were successful, G Asset would spin off the Nook business into its own venture, separate from Barnes & Noble's retail stores and college bookstores.New York-based Barnes & Noble said Friday that it has received the offer, but did not comment further. Sales fell 6.6 percent at its bookstores and online during the critical holiday shopping season.Charter posts profitCharter Communications Inc., which serves Central Massachusetts, posted its first quarterly profit since 2010 after signing up more broadband customers.Fourth-quarter net income of $39 million compares with a loss of $40 million a year earlier, the Stamford, Conn.-based company said Friday in a statement. Sales rose to $2.15 billion, compared with the $2.16 billion predicted by analysts.Charter, like most cable operators in the U.S., has relied on broadband service to fuel its growth. Charter had 4.38 million Internet customers as of Dec. 31, a 2.2 percent gain from the third quarter. It also reported 4.177 million video subscribers, a loss of 2,000 customers from the previous quarter.Charter, the fourth-largest U.S. cable company, is considering buying some of the 3 million subscribers Comcast plans to sell following its acquisition of Time Warner Cable.Home sales plungeWASHINGTON — Sales of existing U.S. homes plummeted in January to the worst pace in 18 months. Cold weather, limited supplies of homes on the market and higher buying costs held back purchases.The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.62 million units last month, down 5.1 percent from December. The sales rate declined 5.1 percent over the previous 12 months.The median price nationwide has risen 10.7 percent to $188,900 since January 2013. There are just 4.9 months of available inventory on the market, a sign that would-be buyers have relatively few homes to pick from and may choose to delay purchases.Compiled from wire reports